ALBANY — New York's school districts will lose an average of $243,000 in federal funding for their 2013-14 school budgets if lawmakers allow the U.S. economy to fall off the so-called fiscal cliff in January.

Schools in the Capital Region stand to lose about $80,000 each, according to a new analysis by the New York School Boards Association. To make up for that loss, which equals about one teaching position, a district would have to raise its tax levy by 0.4 percent.

The state would have to raise aid to each district by an average of 0.8 percent to make up for the loss of federal aid.

The loss of federal aid is made worse by the state's property tax cap, said Timothy Kremer, executive director of the school boards association.

"The impact of the fiscal cliff is made far more pronounced by the state's property tax levy cap, which essentially limits the amount of revenue schools can raise locally," Kremer said in a statement. "For the sake of our students, President Obama and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., must prevent schools from becoming a casualty of the fiscal cliff."

The largest cuts will fall on the state's five biggest school districts, including $95.1 million in New York City, $4.1 million in Buffalo, $3.4 million in Rochester and $1.6 million each in Syracuse and Yonkers.

If Washington lawmakers do not reach a budget agreement, automatic across-the-board cuts to federal programs would take effect. The White House estimates they would be about 8.2 percent. In total, New York would lose $164 million in federal funding earmarked largely for educational programs serving students with disabilities and students in poverty, according to the Association.

Schools in the North Country, where the average cut is $48,455, and the Southern Tier, where it is $64,176, would have the greatest struggle recouping the lost federal money because their taxes bases are so small. To make up for those losses, municipalities in each of those regions would have to raise taxes by almost 1 percent.

The School Boards Association used 2012-13 federal school aid data in the analysis.